In the recent week, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has dealt three major, concerted blows to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA): (1) The Budget allocation for NREGA was reduced to just Rs 60,000 crore in 2023-24 (less than Rs 50,000 crore if we deduct wage arrears from 2022-23). This makes this year’s allocation the lowest as a proportion of GDP (0.2%) in the history of the programme. (2) The...
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Government sells Rs. 900 crore of wheat to counter food price spike - Ravi Dutta Mishra
Food inflation rose sharply to 6.19% in January from 4.58% in December, led by rising prices of most segments Livemint.com The union Government on Wednesday sold 385,000 tonnes of wheat worth ₹901 crore in the open market, in the second round of a planned auction of three million tonnes it plans to offload from the central pool to counter rising prices of the key foodgrain. The move assumes significance as India’s retail inflation...
More »How will Indian Cities Fare if a Turkey-like Earthquake Strikes the Subcontinent?
On 6 February, 2023 Southern Turkey and the adjoining areas in Syria were hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake followed by several aftershocks. The tremors have flattened buildings and destroyed roads and other infrastructure. At least 35,000 casualties (UPDATE) have occurred across Turkey and Syria, with the vast majority being in the former nation. A news report cited the Turkish environment minister saying that 24,921 buildings across the region had collapsed. What...
More »Jean Dreze: No Point In India Growing So Fast If Wages Stagnate And Social Spending Is Slashed - Shreehari Paliath
Budget 2023's allocations for most critical social security schemes have declined in real terms, says economist Jean Dreze - IndiaSpend The last full Union budget before the next general elections in 2024, which was presented on February 1, gets "a big zero" in terms of welfare spending from economist and social activist Jean Dreze. Budget allocations for most critical social security schemes have declined in real terms, Dreze said. The Union Government withdrew...
More »Parliamentary Panel asks Centre to raise Financial assistance for PM Awas (rural) - Nidhi Sharma
Economic Times A parliamentary panel has asked the Government to increase financial assistance provided under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) to help beneficiaries in completion of houses and improve monitoring of houses being constructed under the flagship scheme. The 30-member committee on estimates, headed by BJP MP Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, asked the ministry of rural development to revise the financial assistance provided to help beneficiaries in timely completion of houses sanctioned. The...
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